A Roadtrip To Remember
by hersheygal
Summary: Damon and Elena go on a roadtrip that will change everything.
1. Chapter 1

Elena sat in her room looking out her window. It was a chilly night but it didn't really bother her. Elena pulled her knees up to her chest. Stefan's words kept playing back in her head over and over. She had never been more confused in her life. Lately she had been focusing her energy on pushing her feelings for Damon aside, to focus on the more pressing issues at hand, but suddenly, it's like none of that mattered anymore. It's like Stefan opened up everything she had been holding so tightly inside, just waiting to spill out.

Elena resolved to go to the Salvatore mansion first thing in the morning.

* * *

Elena approached the door to Stefan and Damon's mansion. She was somewhat afraid of who would answer, and she wasn't sure of which brother she was more afraid of.

"Elena."

Damon's voice sent Elena's heart jumping out of her chest, but she wasn't sure why.

"Damon." Elena stumbled over the words trying to come out. "I thought you would be at Alaric's." She lied feebly, and she could tell Damon knew she was flustered.

"Ahhh.." Damon tapped his fingers against the door. "So you're here for Stefan I suppose? Well he's not here."

Elena sighed. "Actually, I'm here to see you."

"Oh really?" Damon's eyebrows raised, and he immediately let go of the door, letting her into the house.

Elena walked into the house and into the living room, where she stood in front of the fire.

"And what is it that you need?" Damon followed her into the living room, waiting for her to turn around.

"I want to go see Jeremy."

"Why is that? I thought the whole point of him going to Denver was so he didn't have to be around all this..fun.." Damon started pouring himself a drink, finding himself trying to avoid Elena's eyes.

"I'm worried about him. Bonnie said that Kol is in Denver with him, and that means that at any moment he could do something to Jeremy. I just want to check up on him."

"Wait, wait, wait. When did we find out Kol is in Denver?" Damon set his glass down, and walked closer to Elena.

Elena crossed her arms. "When.. Rebekah had you." Elena stared into Damon's eyes. Something was.. different. She suddenly felt horrible for the way that she had treated him.

"Oh right, you mean when Rebekah tortured me?"

Elena forced herself to look into Damon's eyes and was surprised to see so much pain in them.

"Stefan said it was bad, but he didn't say how bad. How are you doing?" Elena walked closer to him, suddenly wanting to be closer to him.

Damon dropped his eyes to the floor. "I'm fine now, since I was rescued by my heroic brother. All though I'm not sure how long that's going to last seeing as Alaric's alter ego has the dagger we need."

Damon looked at Elena again. She was just staring at him, in a way that he didn't recognize. The two stood close together, sharing the silence, both not sure of what to say.

And then the moment was gone.

Elena coughed. "Well I'm glad you're okay." She made a move for the door.

"Wait, that's it?" Damon followed her out. "You tell me you want to go see Jeremy and think I'm going to just let you go alone?"

"You want to come?" Elena turned around.

"Yeah I do."

Elena stopped for a second, and then nodded. "Okay, we'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Damon followed Elena to the door. "It's been a long time since we've had one of our roadtrips."

Elena turned to Damon as she stepped outside to see him grinning at her. It wasn't one of his sarcastic grins though, she could tell he was genuinely excited about going with her.

"Yeah, it has." Elena smiled at him and then got into her car and headed back to her house. Elena realized her heart hadn't stopped racing since the moment Damon had opened the door. She had a feeling this roadtrip was going to change everything.


	2. Chapter 2

Damon had the music blasting, and after Elena had asked him numerous times to turn it down, she gave up and just stared out of the window of the car. The roadtrip had gone over well so far all things considered. Elena wasn't sure where Damon was with her. After their conversation at the last dance they had, she wasn't sure if they would ever go back to how they were before.

"What are you thinking about?"

Damon's voice jerked Elena out of her thoughts.

For a second, Elena was in a panic. If she answered truthfully she would say that she was thinking about the two of them, but she wasn't sure how he would react to that.

"I was uh," Elena cleared her throat. "I was just thinking about everything that's been going on."

Damon nodded slowly. "Yeah, it's been nonstop action lately huh?"

"Yeah."

Their eyes met briefly before Damon looked back at the road. Elena couldn't help but stare at him.

"What are you thinking about?" Elena asked him, wanting him to look at her again, but he didn't.

"I was thinking we should stop somewhere for the night, get some sleep, and then head out tomorrow for Denver."

That wasn't exactly what Elena wanted to hear. "Oh, we can't just go straight through the night?"

Finally Damon looked at her again, with that signature smirk of his. "I could, but you wouldn't."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Elena protested. "I could make it through the night! You could drive and I'll sleep in the car."

"Elena, you won't sleep in the car. It's fine. I know a perfectly good hotel a hundred miles down the road. We'll get a good night's sleep, and then we'll be fresh for our visit with Jeremy."

Elena thought about it for a second. "Fine, but I get to listen to whatever I want the rest of the way."

Elena reached for the radio and switched it from the hard rock station to the top 40s station before Damon could argue.

Damon shook his head and groaned, but he didn't say anything. Even though he hated the top 40s crap he did enjoy watching Elena dance in her seat and every once in a while sing along with the songs.

"Come on, you gotta love Taylor Swift." Elena teased Damon with a huge smile as she turned her head from side to side, her hair going everywhere with the wind from the open windows of the car.

Damon couldn't help but return her smile. He missed her smile, and most of all he had missed her smiling at him.

He quickly stopped himself though and looked back at the road. He wasn't sure of where he was with Elena. He still loved her of course, he always would. The last few weeks he had been concentrating on Alaric's problems in order to avoid his own. Any time he was with Elena he tried not to let their conversation veer to them, and she had seemed to do the same. He had put up a wall between them. She had hurt him, and really, why hadn't he expected it? Stefan seemed to be returning to somewhat of his guilt-ridden self, and so Damon did what he did best. He pushed Elena away.

Now with this roadtrip, Damon had no choice but to confront his feelings about Elena and face them head on again. While being in the same car with Elena was exhilarating, it was also hard, because Damon didn't know if when they returned from the roadtrip if they would go back to treating each other with the same hostility they had resorted to before. Damon didn't know if he could bear to go back to Mystic Falls and have to be around Elena knowing that she didn't feel the same about him, knowing that she and Stefan might be starting their relationship up again.

With that thought entering his mind Damon's heart sunk. That's why he had started pushing Elena away. He didn't know if he could handle seeing Elena with Stefan after everything they had been through.

Damon looked at Elena again, who was still bouncing in her seat with the Taylor Swift song blasting through the car. One thing's for sure, Damon knew this roadtrip was special, and he planned on savoring every second of it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Damon was right, the hotel that he had been talking about was pretty decent. It was only when they got up to the room that Elena froze.

_One bed. _Elena stared from the bed to Damon, and then quickly back to the bed.

Damon noticed Elena's reaction and rolled his eyes.

"I can sleep on the floor if you want." Damon offered in a sarcastic tone.

"No, it's fine." Elena shook her head and set her luggage down.

"I mean, it's not like we haven't slept in the same bed before." Damon pointed out. He spread out on the bed, resting his head on his arms. He couldn't help but be a little hurt that Elena had reacted that way. Didn't she trust him after all this time?

"Right." Elena avoided looking at Damon and she went and sat in the chair by the window and started going through her suitcase.

"What's going on with you Elena?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"No you're not, you've been acting strange ever since yesterday when you came to see me. Something's going on."

Elena didn't say anything, but she stopped going through her suitcase. She found a spot on the floor and just stared at it.

Damon got up and stood by the window.

"Elena, look, I know things have been weird with us lately, and I'm sorry I kept pushing my feelings onto you. It wasn't fair to you." Damon couldn't think of any other way to smooth things over with Elena other than to apologize.

"Damon don't. Just stop." Elena looked up at him and stood up.

Damon couldn't figure out what Elena's expression was. She looked sad, and extremely confused.

"What is it?" Damon prodded her. "Elena, what's going on? Just tell me."

"Stefan thinks I have feelings for you." The words came out in a rush, before Elena could stop them.

The room became so silent that Elena could hear the dripping of the sink from the bathroom.

Damon swallowed hard. He was not prepared for this. "Do you?"

It was in that moment, looking into Damon's vulnerable eyes that Elena realized what she had known all along.

When Elena didn't answer right away, Damon reached out to her, grabbing her arms and looked her in the eyes. "Don't think Elena. What do you feel?"

"I do." Elena said softly, her heart racing. She wondered if Damon could hear her heart beating out of her chest. Of course he could. He was a vampire.

Damon's eyes widened and for once he was speechless.

"I do Damon." Elena said again, this time louder in case he hadn't heard her before.

Damon blinked a few times, trying to process what Elena was saying.

"What does this mean?" Damon asked, his throat thick with emotion. It was a Damon that Elena hadn't seen for a while. It made her heart break.

"I don't know." Elena whispered.

Damon was still holding tightly onto Elena's arms, searching Elena's eyes. He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

He let go of her arms, realizing he was holding on tighter than he meant to.

"Well then we'll figure it out together." Damon's voice was stronger this time

"Okay." Elena nodded. She didn't know what else to say, so she excused herself to the bathroom to change.

Elena knew that she had taken a big step tonight, and she felt sorry for all those times that Damon had been so open about his feelings and she had said nothing in return. She wanted to make it up to him somehow.

When she came back, Damon was standing in front of the window again. Elena just stopped for a second and admired his handsome build. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. He turned his head towards her and smiled at her.

Elena leaned up her tiptoes, meaning to kiss Damon on the cheek, but he turned his head and she kissed him on the lips.

Elena immediately pulled back, her cheeks flushed red. She looked into Damon's eyes, and all she could see was love. There was no going back now. Elena just stared at Damon. She wanted to kiss him again. She waited for him make the move but she realized that he wasn't going to. He wasn't going to make her do anything she didn't want to.

So Elena reached up and wrapped her arms around Damon's neck and kissed him again. This time Damon wrapped his arms around Elena's waist. They stayed like this for a while until Elena let go of his neck and grabbed onto his shirt, pulling on the first button.

Damon immediately stopped her. He grabbed her hands and shook his head.

"No Elena." He said breathlessly. She really had taken his breath away.

Elena's eyes filled with tears. Damon didn't want her? He had slept with so many women and he didn't want to sleep with her? Her heart sank. How could she have been that stupid?

Damon realized what his words were doing to her and he pulled her to him, stroking her hair.

"Not like this." He whispered into her ear. "I don't want you to do anything that you'll regret tomorrow."

Elena pulled away and looked up at him. "But I won't regret it! I want to. I want _you_."

Damon shook his head again. "Not yet. Not here. You need to get some sleep."

Elena was still confused, but she wasn't going to push Damon. Elena still wasn't sure of what all of this meant for them.

"All right. Well I'm going to bed then." Elena let go of Damon and started to walk away before Damon grabbed her hand, pulling her to him for one last kiss.

"Good night Elena."

"Goodnight." Elena murmured. She pulled away and got into the bed.

Her mind was reeling. She didn't understand why Damon was pushing her away. In a heartbeat he would sleep with other women that had meant nothing to him. Why wouldn't he sleep with the woman he truly loved?

Then it hit her. Damon didn't want to sleep with her _because _he loved her. Everything suddenly made sense. Elena felt an overwhelming sense of love as she realized that Damon was looking out for her, wanting to be sure that Elena knew exactly what she wanted.

Elena watched Damon from the bed as he undid his shirt, the moonlight hitting his bare chest.

Elena could feel herself blushing, and she quickly closed her eyes before Damon got into the bed. Elena didn't know why she was so wound up about sleeping in the same bed with Damon. She had shared a bed with Stefan numerous times, but this was different.

Elena took a deep breath and opened her eyes, knowing she would see Damon's looking back at her. They laid like that for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Elena felt herself start to drift off.

She felt Damon's hand cover her own, and in that moment, she felt safer than she had in months. She squeezed his hand, and knew that she would sleep soundly with Damon by her side.


End file.
